Mattresses, tires and appliances
Refrigerator disposal fee: what the dump charges for an appliance with refrigerant
Pick a site and the number of refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners. The tool adds the appliance fee, alone or with a load of trash.
Independent site, not a waste hauler or a landfill operator.
Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners
Example: Salt Lake City, Utah. Pick your own dump.
You pay, load and 1 appliances
$37
| Load: Flat fee for this vehicle, whatever the weight | $17 |
| 1 refrigerant appliance | $20 |
Salt Lake County (public), price list current schedule, no effective date printed, checked on November 7, 2026.
A refrigerator disposal fee pays for recovering the refrigerant before the appliance is crushed for scrap. Under the EPA’s Section 608 rules, the last person in the disposal chain, such as a landfill owner or a scrap recycler, must make sure the refrigerant in a fridge, freezer or window air conditioner is recovered before final disposal, or keep a signed statement saying who recovered it. So public landfills either charge a fixed fee per unit or ask for that statement. On the schedules we read on November 7, 2026, the fee runs from $9 at North and South transfer stations to $50.40 at Seminole Road Landfill. The Sacramento County sites take two large appliances a day at no charge, then charge per unit. A refrigerator weighs about 250 lbs on the EPA conversion factors, so at a weighed site it also adds to the load.
Fee schedules read and sums checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the fees are read and priced
Appliance fees on public schedules
| Site | Area | Refrigerant appliance | Free allowance | One fridge adds to a pickup load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiefer Landfill | Sacramento | $35 each | 2 a day free | $0 |
| North Area Recovery Station | Sacramento | $40 each | 2 a day free | $0 |
| North and South transfer stations | Seattle | $9 each | none | $9 |
| Broome County Landfill | Binghamton | $10 each | none | $10 |
| I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex | Fairfax (DC area) | $15 each | none | $15 |
| Salt Lake Valley Landfill | Salt Lake City | $20 each | none | $20 |
| Los Reales Sustainability Campus | Tucson | $20 each | none | $20 |
| Trail Ridge Landfill | Jacksonville | $20 each | none | $20 |
| Alcoa/Maryville/Blount County Sanitary Landfill | Knoxville | $20 each | none | $20 |
| Larimer County Landfill | Fort Collins | $36 each | none | $36 |
| Washington County landfill | St. George | $38.64 each | none | $38.64 |
| Seminole Road Landfill | Atlanta | $50.40 each | none | $50.40 |
Seattle’s rule is worth reading in full: $9 per appliance plus the tonnage rate when other material is in the load; $34 per appliance for an appliance-only load (2 at most). Sacramento County gives its own worked example on the North Area Recovery Station page, a pickup with trash and three refrigerators: the $40 pickup rate, two appliances free and $40 for the third, $80 in all. The calculator reproduces it.
What an appliance weighs
At a site that weighs the load, an appliance counts like any other material. The EPA’s volume-to-weight factors give a refrigerator about 250 lbs, a washer 150, a dryer 125, a range 150 and a dishwasher 125. A kitchen clear-out with a fridge, a range and a dishwasher adds over 500 lbs to the scale, enough to push a pickup past the minimum charge at most weighed sites.
Some sites refuse appliances at the trash lane and send them to a separate area. Miramar in San Diego asks for appliances, televisions and electronics to be dropped elsewhere before entering the landfill. The calculator marks a fee as not printed when a schedule has no appliance line, rather than guessing one.